


Poisoned Requiem

by kiapurity



Series: HS AU [2]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: A goddamn weird take on hanahaki genre, Also the demon cheese wheel is pretty cute here, F/M, Gen, Sam the Researcher, somewhere between angst and crack and oh my god what did I even write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 02:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21845386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiapurity/pseuds/kiapurity
Summary: One shot. Uses "Through the Mirror of Another" universe but is not part of the actual story. (Read: An au of an au, ow my head.)Aikaterine has to deal with the hanahaki disease and it's a rather terrifying prospect for her brought on by stress. Will or won't she make it?
Relationships: Dante/Lady (Devil May Cry), Nero's Mother/Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Series: HS AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573852
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Poisoned Requiem

**Author's Note:**

> An introspective take on how low self-esteem can be rather destructive.

While other students were either busy with studying for the final exams or simply lazing around because it was their last year of school, the same couldn’t be said for her. She knew her life was essentially over because once graduation day arrived, she would have to pack up her belongings and return home. Deal was a deal.

What a bitter taste in her mouth.

The freedom she had begged for was already slipping through her fingers. She was shaking with so much rage and heartache in her bathroom, not wanting to face one more day of school. It was already too much just trying to put up a brave face for her classmates.

Deep breaths.

She fought hard to push back the swelling tide of fear. Nanny hadn’t said anything to her recently, so she didn’t know what was going on or if the situation was that dismal. Aikaterine took another deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts. She was already eighteen and by law, she should be considered an adult but she wasn’t a citizen of Red Grave. She belonged to Fortuna as much as she hated to admit it.

Belonged. That word made her shudder with revulsion. It wasn’t just that she belonged to a place with strict laws and ideals where women were concerned with keeping their virtues intact. Her mother had violated them with a stranger and deeply paid the price for it. The woman had long lost her mind and ran off on a fruitless search, leaving her rejected daughter to be punished. Her punishment was to be locked away as if she never existed because the scandal had burned for a long time before it was finally forgotten by the society.

Even if the society had forgotten, her uncle had not. Aikaterine inherited her coloring from a father she never knew and no one dared to speak of. Her mother was once thought to be the greatest beauty but it was clear how quickly the daughter had outshone her mother. Her freedom was a hard won battle in a duel of words. How she said that her education would make her a far better prospect for marriage, especially if she was a little familiar with the outside world.

Surely, no prospective groom would want a dim witted woman for a wife? Her uncle had grunted in agreement and allowed her and Nanny to move to Red Grave temporarily with the understanding that in her own place, she could never entertain male visitors. She dared not to raise the point that she needed to learn how to socialize with her fellow peers lest he cancel the idea out from under her.

Of course, that rule was broken after a year in which she somehow shockingly, got a boyfriend of all things on her birthday. Because of her paranoia, they only held hands in public in spite of the unaddressed sexual tension between them. In the privacy of her apartment was another story. She felt like he was avoiding her a lot lately, and she supposed she couldn’t blame Vergil for it. He did have a future to consider, a future that she wouldn’t be a part of.

That hurt more than anything in the world, she realized when she choked back a sob. Could she really afford to miss a day of school and destroy her perfect attendance record? She didn’t want to miss everything that her temporary freedom had to offer. She sighed and splashed her face with water before her body shuddered, nausea rising in her throat. Her hands slammed on the either side of the sink, trying to steady herself as pain screamed in the seat of her soul.

Once she finished the uncontrolled heaving, she pulled back from the sink. Unexpected yellow flower petals and a bit of blood? She looked in the mirror, her complex rather ghastly from having coughed so hard she gave herself a nosebleed. The flower petals littering the sink with dotted blood didn’t seem to make any sense to her. Aikaterine hurriedly cleaned up the mess while grabbing a spare flower petal that was nearly free of any blood or otherwise. Did she get attacked by something supernatural and it was just now taking root?

For now, the only person she could trust was her teacher, Sam the Researcher™ who might have a clue or two. She didn’t want to involve anyone else if this was something she could take care of on her own. With that matter settled in her mind, she forced herself to get ready for school. Her disguise had long since fallen apart during her sophomore year, she opted for the usual messy bun. There wasn’t any point in making herself look nice since no one seemed to see her anymore.

\--

The class was considerably subdued today, everyone too worn out from intense studying. The teacher took notice and sighed loudly before telling the class that they were welcome to take a mental break for today. Pushing themselves too hard would only make the final exams that much troublesome for them if they weren’t well-rested. Of course, the class was considerably shocked at the teacher for being so concerned for their health when they were sometimes guilty of driving their poor teacher to drink.

During the lunch break with everyone scattered all over the school building, free to pursue whatever they wanted, she spoke with her teacher in private. It was about the flower petals that had concerned her and the more she thought about it, it was true that she had been feeling unwell ever since she turned eighteen. As if her body was breaking from under heavy mental strain she was under.

“Teacher?”

“Hm? What is it?” Sam looked up from their desk. Brie was snoring softly on top of Sam’s lesson plans which may have been why the teacher opted for a “free day” instead. The demon cheese wheel could be cranky if disturbed. A few students had discovered the hard way that the cheese wheel could bite despite not having visible teeth.

“What can you tell me about this petal?”

The teacher stared at the yellow flower petal in Aikaterine’s hand and tilted their head in sheer confusion before pointing out that it was a carnation petal. The question was extremely puzzling but they asked if she was okay considering the stress she was under.

“When was the last time you spoke to your uncle?”

“Just the birthday call. Haven’t heard back in months which I suppose, I’m okay with. But at the same time, not knowing what he’s up to is terrifying.”

“I know it’d be heartless of me to ask if you have any plans for the future.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “I can’t even afford to think about college. I’m so jealous of those who can dream. I can only hope whoever he chooses would be kind to me.”

Sam leaned back in the chair and said, “...what of your boyfriend?”

“You know as well as I do. He’s so busy that he hardly ever has any time to think about me. That’s okay, he only asked me out to keep the groupies at bay.”

“Oh for love of--” Sam hit up their backup flask. “Dick has done a goddamn piece of work on your mental wellbeing. I swear if I didn’t think Agatha would do more experiments on me, I would be hauling my ass back to Fortuna to give that asshole uncle of yours a piece of my mind!”

“Swearing isn’t very becoming of you.”

“Says the one with a mouth fouler than mine. You shouldn’t be punished for something that wasn’t even your fault in the first place!”

“But I’m a constant reminder of my mother’s sins.” She said, trying to remain calm. “I don’t see how anyone could love someone like--”

Aikaterine suddenly convulsed into a coughing fit in front of the terrified teacher, with the blood and petals coming up. Sam quickly grabbed a towel, holding it to her mouth as they ran down to the nurse’s office. She was whisked behind a closed off curtain as Sam had a quick word with the nurse about a possible medical emergency and to get Nanny’s number ASAP.

“My god. What the hell?”

“It started this morning. Sam, do you have any idea what this is?” Her voice sounded tiny and far away while she was sitting on the bed, wiping the petals away.

“What you have is called a hanahaki disease. The cause is mostly idiopathic and supernatural, something about unrequited love.” The teacher was muttering, going through a notebook out from their pocket. “But that shouldn’t be possible, you’re in a relationship!”

“Is that so.”

Sam stood there for a long time, staring off in space. They would have a word with the emotionally constipated boyfriend which shouldn’t be a surprise as to why the hell this even happened in the first place. The teacher shook their head for a moment.

“Okay, no, it might be a variation of the disease. Were you in any contact with anything supernatural lately, like did you piss off some demon who cursed you?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no.”

This concerned the researcher deeply as if they were wracking their memories. Could this be genetic in nature, having something to do with her father? Considering the disease was largely unknown in Fortuna. The only reason why they even knew anything about it existing in the first place was because the Order sent people all over the world to do some research into demon associated lore. The disease had to be caused by a demon but as far as Sam could tell that it was a mystery to them, having chosen to specialize in Sparda related research.

“Any odd dreams?” Sam finally asked.

Dreams was a topic Sam only lightly touched on the past when Aikaterine told them all about her ability to see unusual things in her dreams. She could see what most people couldn’t, and it confused and terrified her. The researcher kept wondering if her biological father was some kind of warlock, passing on untold powers. It was a subject that had haunted them since the infamous scandal when the town was supposedly under a spell. If Sam had been there at the time, they would have been ironically immune to the said spell due to their devotion to science.

“A garden of yellow flowers.” Aikaterine answered. “I couldn’t tell you what kind of flowers they were, it didn’t seem to matter. Only that they were yellow.”

“Well, hell. In the language of flowers, yellow represents negative feelings like envy and rejection.”

“It’s almost as if my feelings are making themselves known no matter how hard I try to hide them.” She laughed softly at the irony. “I’m bleeding.”

“Damn it.” Sam muttered. “We need to get x-rays to see how bad this is.”

“What? Why?”

“Because the flowers can root in your heart and lungs. If you’re already coughing up blood…”

“It’s just a nose blood.”

“OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?”

“Well--”

“NO BUTS.” Sam was at the brink of ripping their hair out. “As much as I hate to say this, but we can’t involve normal hospitals here, not without people losing their shit over this.”

“I have to go back?”

The fear was visible in her eyes and the teacher felt guilty because that was the only choice left to them. Damn the fates, the girl had too much on her hands! Before they could say anything, Nanny quickly rushed into the room.

“Are you alright?!”

“Nanny... “

“What is this, Sam?” Nanny turned to Sam who proceeded to give a brief explanation. “You can’t be serious?”

“As far as I know, that’s what it appears to be.”

“Something like that shouldn’t be possible--” Nanny went quiet for a moment before Sam escorted her out of the Nurse’s office.

Aikaterine couldn’t hear what they were talking about and laid her head back down on the bed. Her eyes drew shut, breathing labored as she tried to calm the rising panic in her chest. The idea of having to go back early because of the disease was a cruel joke. Graduation was only a month away, wasn’t it?

\--

“Damn it, Sammy.” Nanny said, slightly tense.

“I’m trying my best here!” The researcher protested. “Seeing something like this in person is practically unthinkable for so many reasons. Hell, she’s in a relationship and that… shouldn’t happen.”

“You’re right, it shouldn’t. I’m always over every day whenever they’re together.”

“When was the last time Vergil was over?”

“I-- oh. Shit. That was her birthday. They were sitting outside on the balcony, looking at the stars together.”

“So it’s been several bloody months since then. I swear I’m going to have to slap some sense into that boy if he doesn’t kill me for attempting it in the first place.”

“Is this in any way related to…” Nanny was afraid to say it, not wanting to touch upon the unspoken subject.

“I really don’t know. All I can reassure you is that she IS human, through and through. Even though I think she may have inherited an unknown power from that man.”

“What if…” Nanny began. “She’s making herself sick?”

Sam paused, digesting that thought. That was certainly possible as the poor girl had been locked away for most of her life, never knowing what she was capable of. The idea that she was unintentionally killing herself to escape from a possible life sentence was painful to say in the least.

The Fortuna scandal was why Sam decided to become a researcher, having witnessed the entire situation firsthand. Though, their focus had long since shifted to Sparda because there was always that burning question in the back of their head. Who the hell was that goofy looking bastard and why did he show up several times in history books over the years. Sam had noticed the pattern and followed it only to make a highly alarming discovery of one Sparda trying to live normally as possible with a family.

Normal was a largely subjective term.

“I’m sure there’s someone somewhere in the Order researching human beings with magical powers. I was originally going to specialize in that when I got distracted.”

“Sammy, please!”

The two adults stopped talking for a moment while a heavy shroud of silence fell upon them. Nanny put her face in her hands and sighed deeply. Mary snuck past them and into the nurse’s office because she had meant to check on her best friend at lunch earlier. Once the curtain opened, startling Aikaterine out of her thoughts, Mary put her hands on her hips.

“What are you doing? Hiding here?”

“It’s nothing.” The towel was still crumpled under her chin, trying to conceal the petals. “I’m not feeling okay.”

“Come on.” Mary plopped on her knees, touching her friend’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever.”

“It’s complicated. I have some kind of cough that won’t go away. I probably overstressed my body.”

“From studying?”

How do you exactly explain a weird disease that you didn’t understand yourself?

“Probably. I don’t know.”

“I dunno, but it feels like you’ve been sad a lot lately.”

“Y-you’re not wrong.” Tears came to her yellow eyes. “Everyone’s busy planning for their future and I don’t know what mine will hold.”

“Come on! You’re already eighteen and your uncle never called back after that. I was hoping he gave up.”

“I-I don’t know for sure.”

She was shaking all over despite her best efforts to remain calm. The only other time Mary had ever seen her friend terrified out of her mind was that night when the monster came after them. The monster that had been lurking deep inside her father’s body when he violently emerged that night and attacked her mother. 

Aikaterine broke into a violent coughing fit, more petals came up, alarming Mary. Her wide eyes met Mary’s own, begging for forgiveness but this was what she couldn’t explain. The disease’s strange existence. Mary quietly helped Aikaterine clean up the mess and tried to reassure her with a hug. They endured a lot of bullshit together, and Mary didn’t know what she could do for her best friend this time.

“Teacher says that I have to go back home because there’s an organization that does research on supernatural stuff like this… but…”

“You don’t want your uncle to find out, right?”

“Right. Nanny and I are going to have to sneak back home and hopefully, we can escape before he finds out.”

“Should I let anyone know?”

“No! No. It’s okay. They don’t need to worry about me. I mean, I should be in and out.” Aikaterine smiled weakly.

\--

Rest of the day, Mary was in a daze. She had never known her friend to vanish so suddenly from school over illness. Aikaterine was that kind of person who stubbornly held out even if she wasn’t feeling well to the point she had to be yelled at and dragged to the nurse’s office. Even her fellow classmates had taken note and were gossiping as to the reason.

“Did you hear that vice president went to the nurse’s office at lunch?”

“No! Really? Did she overwork herself?”

“Are you sure she’s not secretly pregnant with some super baby?”

Mary just wanted to know what the hell that person was smoking with that one. Couldn’t they invent more creative rumors than that? But then again, how could you get creative in a class with a long suffering alcoholic teacher and a hissing cheese wheel?

Speaking of which, the cheese wheel interrupted the gossiping with a hiss. Everyone got the point immediately, gossiping wasn’t exactly a productive use of their time. Sam told the class that they could leave early but not before a student reminded that they couldn’t do that, the teacher wasn’t the principal.

“Ah, I see.” Sam answered. “Okay, field trip back home then.”

“You can’t just keep making the same excuse!”

“Even poor Sam is worn out?” Dante prodded Mary’s shoulder.

“I suppose even the final exams preparation got to them.”

“How are you doing?”

“Better. I think I’ll definitely pass. You planning on sleeping during the exam?”

“Sam would only get stressed out, so nah. I’ve actually been studying a little bit. Vergil on the other hand… I haven’t seen him in weeks.”

“Are you serious? Don’t you two live in the same house?”

“You would think that…” Dante grumbled. “He’s been hiding in the guest room studying furiously and rest of the time, I’m not even sure where he is. Even called Kitty Kat who sounded really weird about it, saying that she didn’t know either.”

Dante paused, waiting for a book to smack him in the head as he stared at the other side of the room with a WTF expression on his face. Mary only shrugged back at him.

“She went home sick.”

“You’re telling me, the most dedicated student who would suplex me for being late to classes went straight home sick without protesting? Are pigs flying?”

At that remark, Dante opened a window and stuck his head out to observe any possible species of flying swine. Normally, this would be when Sam yelled at the younger twin to sit his ass down and pay attention. Instead, Mary pulled Dante back inside the room.

“No, I’m serious!”

“Okay, that is like, super weird.” Dante squinted at a yellow flower petal stuck to Mary’s shirt and removed it. “Since when are you around flowers?”

“Um… it’s a flower?”

Dante sighed loudly with a small “Whatever,” before they settled back in their seats and waited out for the rest of the day. Once the bell rang for the weekend, they had never seen Sam bolt from their seat so fast that Brie was scrambling out of the door to catch up. Vergil was second fastest, out in a blink before Dante could have a word with his twin.

“Damn it. I’m going to have to find out what the hell that guy is up to.”

\--

Aikaterine hated putting the cursed dress back on, but she had to blend in with the crowd once again. At least that made it easier to sneak back into the city, accompanied by Nanny and Sam who was less than thrilled with the plan but it was their idea in the first place. Sam grumbled about necessary evils and what-not under their breath. Brie was alert and rolling around Sam’s legs. She was still feeling queasy over the thought of going back home, but she didn’t know if it was her emotions twisting in her stomach or the flower itself.

“How are you doing?”

“Okay for now. Haven’t had any more coughing fits.” She said, trying to make certain her hair was secured under the white veil.

“That’s good.” Nanny said. “Hopefully, we’ll have the answer.”

\--

Dante and Mary were wandering around in the city, one was clearly bored out of his mind while the other worried. The concern plastered on her face was obvious enough for Dante to finally sigh and ask Mary what was on her mind. Taken off guard, she tried to say that it was Aikaterine who had finally surrendered to her illness and nothing more than that.

“That’s not it.” Dante said. “I could smell blood on the flower petal.”

“Is that so…?”

“Any chance Kitty Kat has the flower barfing disease?”

“What.” Mary said at Dante’s given description.

There was a serious look on Dante’s face as he went through a checklist out loud, saying that there wasn’t any demons that could have caused it. The disease was definitely one of the weird things that Sparda commented on in the form of useless trivia and told them that it was why it was important for them to be honest about their feelings. 

“So. Let me get this right. She has this disease despite being in a relationship with my brother who seems to have been avoiding everyone lately. No wonder why she sounded so damn strained on the phone. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s been depressed for some time now.”

“Ah… I guess.” Mary said. “She went back to Fortuna to get it checked out.”

“Well, that’s good and all but this disease is usually fatal unless the target of her unresolved feelings says something or there’s uh, some kind of surgery that can cure her but leaves her… empty? Should have asked dad more about that but I never thought I’d actually witness something like this.”

“USUALLY FATAL?” Mary nearly shouted at Dante, having grabbed him by his shirt.

Dante scratched his head. “And that’s why I need your help to find my dumbass brother.” 

The two stopped by a video store in which there was a mysterious clerk wearing bandages around his face with a name tag that read “Gilver”. The two didn’t think of anything at the time and it wasn’t until Dante left the store, he had a moment of “wait a minute.” Then went back inside only to discover that the clerk had actually clocked off work not too long ago.

“Funny, I swear there was some kind of deja vu moment, but I guess I missed it.”

\--

Aikaterine was securely escorted into the Order’s medical wing in which the personnel were setting up the x-ray machine. The nurse was going through a checklist, asking if there was anything they needed to factor in before taking the x-rays. Aikaterine’s face went blank and she asked the nurse to repeat the last sentence. She faltered slightly and stumbled out an answer.

“I, uh, don’t know.”

“What do you mean.” Sam stared at their student. “You don’t know. Either you are or you aren’t.”

“Can I have a third opinion?”

Sam just stared off in the distance, allowing Nanny to consider her opinions. She proceeded to steal the flask from Sam’s hand, taking a sip before choking and coughing. Offended, Sam grabbed the flask back before grumbling about how Nanny should get her own.

The nurse’s face went blank for a moment before excusing herself from the exam room and mumbled about needing to grab a test. Sam buried their face in their hands before complaining that there was a reason behind the sex education class they gave at least two years ago. Nanny only managed a slightly puzzled look on her face.

“I’m pretty sure you can’t even get pregnant from holding hands.” She said before squinting at her charge who somehow managed to keep a perfectly neutral facial expression.

“If anything, I am at least positive she’s been struck by Negative Brain Cell Usage Disease™.” Sam said, sarcastically.

\--

Dante and Mary were tucked away in a small booth in the back of a pizza place. He was feeling a little disoriented and concerned about the fact that his twin had been so evasive lately. What the hell was that dumbass up to? Hopefully, not raising a goddamn tower which was the last thing anyone needed.

“Maybe you should ask your parents since they should have a little more clue?”

“...that would be interesting.” Dante punched in the phone number and set his phone on speaker mode. “Hey, parents. Sup?”

“Ah, I was just doing some embroidery. Your father’s outside right now, chopping some logs.”

“Yeah, yeah. Could you get him on the phone too? ‘Cause I need to talk to you two about Vergil.”

“Oh, what’s the matter? Sparda! Dear!”

There was a set of running sounds with an out of breath “yes, my light of my life?” and some quiet conversations in the background. “Hello, son! How was school? Learn anything important?”

“No. I have something of a mystery on my hands. What the hell has my brother been up to?”

“Language. He’s been working several jobs after a conversation with your mom went poorly.”

“Sparda! I didn’t think it went that poorly. He only asked me about human wedding traditions. I only mentioned engagement rings. You were the one who hid in the tree after he loudly demanded directions to Fortuna.”

“I would rather not remember that place.”

“Why would he-- oh.” Dante tried to do the math and wound up eating a slice of pizza instead while Mary stared at him in disbelief.

“So, he’s serious about marrying Aikaterine?”

Dante nearly choked on his pizza. “Oooh. Ouch. We have allowances, so why would he work a couple of jobs?”

“You know how your brother can get regarding his pride.”

“...as if he would ever let me forget it.” Dante answered while Mary was slapping his back. “Ow! I think I’m good now.”

“I’m sorry! Um, do you two know anything about hanahaki?”

More muffled conversations in the background and general sounds of confusion. Sparda, especially did not understand what was going on, probing them with questions. They answered that they didn’t know if there were demons involved or not. Was there some kind of weird flower demon running around cursing people back and forth?

\--

Both Sam and Nanny were sitting on the floor, arms crossed while passing the flask back and forth. The quick test results were inconclusive but that still didn’t keep them from being completely confused at their various failures. The x-rays were taken at last, but not without precautions owing to the inconclusive results. 

Once the x-rays were done, Sam wordlessly went over to the technician to study the results. Nanny was left with the flask and she drained it, causing future issues for Sam regarding refills. Fortunately, Brie was somewhere in the building. Unfortunately, Brie was busy harassing Agatha who was clearly not happy to be chased by a very crabby demon cheese wheel. Aikaterine asked Nanny if there was any drop left for her.

“Of course not!” She snapped and immediately felt awful. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Sammy’s coping methods shouldn’t be reproduced by the likes of anyone.”

“You stole their flask!”

“That’s what Sammy gets for leaving it with me.”

Sam returned with the images and immediately yelled at Nanny for not leaving them any alcohol. They were going to whistle for Brie before recalling that they had assigned Brie a very important task. The researcher let out a loud sigh of, “Nevermind” before pointing out a slight problem with the x-rays.

“Now, look, you’ve got something of a bloom somewhere between your heart and lungs. Roots haven’t reached there yet, so it’s possible to surgically remove it but the documentation have been rather troubling.”

“How so.” Aikaterine stated flatly. “It’s not like I’m going to die from this?”

Sam had a grave expression on their face. “Without surgery, yes. This doesn’t seem to be a very typical hanahaki disease so everyone’s in the dark over this and what we do know isn’t… good. So it’s dying from this or getting it surgically removed and living without emotions for the rest of your life.”

“That sounds like bull--”

There was a loud bellowing from the hallways, nearly causing everyone involved to bowl over. Aikaterine looked positively terrified while Nanny sighed loudly. “Sammy, I think we need liquid courage to deal with Mister Dick.”

“For th--” Sam slammed a hand on their face. “WHO INVITED THAT ASSHOLE?”

A nurse came in and mumbled into Sam’s ear, producing one incredulous expression on their face. What happened was a rather unfortunate case of a phone call to clarify the matters of paying a medical bill in which sent one deeply displeased relative on a furious rampage. Sam quietly cursed their poor luck and hoped Brie would bite someone.

Richard barged into the room, still screaming at the top of his lungs. Sam sighed, wiping the spittle from their glasses before rolling their eyes and point-blank told him to sit his butt down. The teacher’s voice somehow managed to work their magic on the belligerent man for a moment. Nanny, still slightly tipsy from the mysterious flask, waved to Richard with a sleepy smile on her face.

\--

“My brother is an idiot.” Dante grumbled. “Making us waste time looking for him. When I find him, I’m going to slug him.”

“Don’t you already do that every day?”

“Used to. He’s got a backlog at this point anyhow.”

Earlier, they thought they saw a blue streak dash into a jewelry store, but they weren’t able to discern any more than that. They knew that someone had picked up a thing on a layaway and dashed out. Unwilling to press a store clerk before accidentally getting weird questions such as “Oh, are you two shopping for rings” and forcing them to panic, and flee the store.

“That was terrifying.”

“I would rather fight demons than deal with those sale clerks again…” Dante said, clearly taken aback.

Some people were just that dedicated to their job. Not like that didn’t make him wonder. He only looked at Mary when she wasn’t so she didn’t see how deeply she affected him. Always afraid to take the next step, somewhat keeping her at arms’ length with jokes and friendship. Was it really fair to do that to her if she did feel differently about him? Not like she gave any indication either.

Discouraged, the pair wound up returning to his parents’ house in which they collapsed on the couch, reevaluating their options while eating cookies offered by one very helpful Eva. There was an awkward moment in which one asshole twin wandered past everyone, staring at a box in his hand. Dante gave out an angry yell before tackling his brother to the ground with a “where the hell were you?!”

Unsurprisingly, the pair wound up in a fist fight in which the box popped up in air, Eva grabbing it with practice. It went without saying, this was completely normal for the twins. Mary would have facepalmed if she had the energy for it. The cookies were too delicious to not stop eating. Sparda glanced up from his newspaper for a moment only to comment on their fighting techniques and went back to reading.

The dust cloud cleared up, leaving both of the twins slightly bruised and bloodied. They mirrored the other, a hand on the collar of their shirts and death glares. Finally, the older one spoke, “What do you think you’re doing with that completely unprovoked attack?!”

“You dumbass. Do you even know that your girlfriend went back to Fortuna because she got sick?!”

“She what.”

Eva made Sparda stop reading the newspaper to get the first aid kit out while Vergil slowly processed the information. He glared at the younger twin, demanding for clarification behind the disease. Dante only proceeded to call him a dumbass for burying his head in the books and neglecting his girlfriend.

“On the evening of her birthday, I told her that I was working on an elaborate plan--” Vergil stopped, looking for the box in which Eva promptly returned to him. He shoved it away in a pocket, looking embarrassed.

“And that plan was to ignore her?”

“No, you fool! I had to ask about engagement rituals in which I had to get the necessary part time jobs to purchase the traditional offering! I was texting her every night to apologize that I couldn’t visit.”

He angrily produced his cell phone, nearly throwing it at Dante. Dante blinked, scrolling through the conversations. The younger twin immediately felt like the asshole one instead, flinging such careless accusations. Then a text made him pause as he stared at Vergil, giggling.

“What are you giggling about, you fool?”

“Valentine’s day?”

Vergil’s face turned bright red before he roared and attacked Dante to get the phone back, having completely forgotten what that private conversation entailed. Sparda returned with the first aid kit and let out a loud sigh, still pointing out the flaws in their techniques. Eva pointedly tugged on Sparda’s ear with a quiet, “Dear? Not the time for that.”

“If you guys are done beating each other up…” Mary said, still watching the chaos. “Aikaterine’s got, um, the hanahaki disease?”

The fighting immediately stopped, Vergil had Dante in a headlock while ignoring the fact that the younger twin was biting his forearm to escape. Vergil dropped the headlock with Dante landing on his butt with a thump once he released his bite. He stalked off to the bathroom to clean up as Dante scoffed.

“He got the drop on me.”

“You could still imp-- ow!” Sparda winced from the ear tweaking while Eva gently reminded him that maybe that wasn’t the best time to comment on such things in the middle of a crisis.

Not too long afterwards, Vergil had returned, fully dressed. He strode past everyone, grabbing Yamato from the umbrella stand before pausing and loudly demanding who was the foolish fool to consider dishonoring his sword before noticing Rebellion in the same stand. There was a loud sigh as he figured out the obvious answer, then he threw the front door open before stalking off into the darkness.

“Oh, my. I think we’ll have to go after him.” Eva said, handcuffing Sparda’s free hand to hers. “Dear, we’re going to Fortuna!”

“Honey, I must protest against this! I mean, uh, there would be a lot of awkward questions.”

“Just think of it as a little road trip!”

Dante and Mary stared at them, slightly slack jawed as Eva gently dragged Sparda, who at this point had turned into a giant cockroach demon, trying to dig his claws into the floor to no avail. Dante didn’t know whether to be impressed or concerned that his human mother even had the strength to take on a demon. Though, that did go in a long way of explaining a few things but… some things were best left unasked. Mary grabbed Dante’s hand, dragging him out of the house but not before Dante had a chance to grab his sword. Just in case.

\--

Aikaterine was curled up in bed in a darkened hospital room, going over her thoughts. While she had briefly considered that possibility but when her lungs started hurting, the answer was clear; it wasn’t. And now, her uncle was already here, making her future a rather stark reality. That her freedom was already gone. Perhaps, it was better to let the disease kill her while she had that freedom rather than live without her heart.

It hurt to feel but she strongly believed living without feelings was worse. If she hadn’t had the freedom before, it wouldn’t have been too much of an issue. She could have easily lived without ever knowing what love was. Now, that she knew what it was, it was something she knew she couldn’t live without. So many forms of love had unexpectedly invaded her life, opening her eyes to all the possibilities out there.

Aikaterine could already feel darkness creeping over her vision, but not before she felt someone tugging at her blanket. Dimly aware of an unacknowledged presence at her bed. A small child’s voice begged her to wake up. That voice, she thought that she knew it. Once she made a pained effort to turn her side to face the ghostly figure of a child who had a firm grip on her blanket. The sad look in his baby blue eyes made her chest ache in a different way than the disease ravaging her body was.

The lights turned on, the figure disappearing as she covered her face with the sheet with a yelp. Nanny, who had was slowly regaining her sobriety and nursing a bottle of water. She turned the light off and took her seat next to the bed, having turned on the lamp’s soft light.

“How are you feeling?” She asked gently, her head still throbbing from Sam’s alcohol.

“All things considered, awful. You?”

“Sammy has some kind of iron liver. My head…”

Aikaterine finally let out a laugh but not before her body started shaking again. She covered her mouth only to pull it away, there were no longer petals, but barely blooming buds. Her entire hand was red as she stared up at Nanny with fear in her eyes.

“SAMMY!”

Outside of the room, Sam was glaring daggers at Richard, not at all pleased with the guardian. After the conversation about the disease and surgery, Richard had insisted on the surgery because someone came forth to claim Aikaterine’s hand in marriage. The nerve of that man! Sam was sure he was largely responsible for the disease accelerating in the first place.

Their head snapped at the sound of Nanny shrieking for Sam, but not before a team of doctors rushed into the room with a spare gurney. Richard uncrossed his arms, “Well?”

“This is your fault, you bloody twit!”

“How?!”

“Forcing a girl into a miserable life situation in which death would seem like a kinder fate for her!”

“Her suitor insisted that I cease all communications with her as to not agitate her. I did what he asked.”

“Pardon?” Sam squinted at the guardian, not sure what to believe. “The man you selected made such a request?”

“I did not choose anyone, he showed up in town a few months ago. Loudly demanded for her hand in marriage whether I liked it or not. I asked about his family connections.”

Oh. Wait a minute...

Sam blinked. “Family connections? You mean, like he was rich or something.”

“So he said.” The man was shaking with disbelief. “He claimed to have all the money in the world, more than I could ever dream of. I wanted to know if there was anything I was getting out of handing her over. Would you believe that he claimed to be the son of Sparda?”

Then that was when the researcher absolutely lost their marbles, slowly dissolving into laughter. There were loud wheezing sounds in between laughing fits as Sam tried to regain their composure but failed badly.

“What the hell is so funny?” Richard said, irritated.

The researcher recovered, having returned to their neutral expression. “Vergil is full of surprises.”

“You’re a strange one, Sam. I demanded proof and he said that showing me such a thing would be degrading himself.”

Sam shook their head. “He has his reasons.”

There was a long distant memory of a particular Halloween incident in which the idiot twins used their Devil Triggers as their costumes. How fortunate that no one clued onto the truth for the most part. Sam scolded them for a long time afterwards. They took the lesson to heart and dared to not repeat it in the researcher's presence.

“You believe this man is really Sparda’s son?”

“You’re talking to the Sparda researcher.” Sam answered, flatly. 

“If anything happens to her,” Richard growled through clenched teeth. “I will be suffering the consequences, so she’s going to get the surgery. Aikaterine is no good to anyone dead. Nurse!”

“Hang on a second--”

A nurse showed up to confirm that the disease had progressed enough that they couldn’t afford not doing the surgery or death would follow shortly. The patient had fainted from their latest coughing fit and couldn’t make the decision so it was left to the guardian. He stared at Sam with a grim look on his face.

“So be it.”

“Richard, you asshole!” Nanny shrieked, throwing the empty bottle at him. Her aim was off and it crashed into the wall. “You’ve tortured her all her life, for what? Just because of that… that…”

“Enough, Nanny.” Sam grabbed Nanny by her shoulders, shaking her gently. “It broke everyone here.”

“You’re damn right. The reason why I had Aikaterine locked up all these years ago because she was changing.”

“You mean, she was turning into a woman!” Nanny snapped.

“No.” The man shifted uncomfortably. “It was small things at first and I kept my distance over the years because of that, until finally, I decided that she needed to be far away. You did not see it, Nanaya because you didn’t want to.”

“What do you mean by that, you rotten… person.”

“I hired a detective to find out more, it seems that the stranger who first came years ago belonged to some sort of coven. Of course, if Helen couldn’t find him, the detective couldn’t either.”

Nanny winced at the hearing the name of her former best friend. “Are you saying that I didn’t want to see that Aikaterine has powers?”

“The mind is a complicated thing.” Sam reassured Nanny. “You probably explained such odd things away.”

“And yet you have a pet demon cheese wheel.”

“Excuse you, Brie is my assistant!”

“What.” Richard said.

The trio was interrupted by the cheese wheel furiously chasing Agatha through the room. The tiny evil lady was shrieking about vicious bites and needing a rabies shot. Sam rolled their eyes before clearing their throat.

“Sam, darling!” Eva barged into the room, interrupting whatever Sam was going to say next. “I didn’t realize you were already here.”

“What the shit.” Sam finally blurted out, staring at one very alarmed cockroach, still handcuffed to Eva. “What are you two doing here?”

“What the hell is that?” Richard exclaimed.

“That would be Sparda.”

“Hello.” The cockroach dad piped up from the floor, clearly too intimidated by being in Fortuna. He got off of the floor, finally transforming into his human attire.

Richard did a double take, not sure what he was believing with his eyes. He stared at Sam for some answers in which the poor researcher sighed before stating that, yes, that is Sparda and the statues in Fortuna was goddamn inaccurate. He didn’t have feathers anywhere on his body and was one hell of a goofyass cockroach demon who had a rather unfortunate habit of doing strange things with equally disastrous results.

“...I see the family resemblance. I think.”

Dante and Mary burst into the room next glancing back and forth. “Where the hell is that no-good bastard?”

“Dante! Language!”

“Sorry, mom!”

“Oh my god, there’s two?” Richard said, returning their glare to Sam once again.

“Yes, there’s two-- actually, if everyone’s here, where the hell is Vergil?”

“That’s what I’m asking, Sam!”

There were loud screaming coming from the surgery suite as Nanny wobbled, pointing in that particular direction. Everyone’s heads snapped towards the hallway with varying expressions of concern, disbelief, and annoyance as Vergil emerged with Aikaterine in his hands. He somehow managed a free hand to draw Yamato out of the sheath, jabbing it near Richard’s comfort zone.

“I thought I told you, no upsetting her!”

“So, you did.” Richard shifted uncomfortably, wishing he was anywhere else.

“Are you freakin’ kidding me, Verge?” Dante responded, sourly. “I didn’t even see you enter the building!”

“I teleported.” He answered.

“Since when!?”

“...oh, maybe that explains the sneaking around.” Nanny said, thinking back on the times Aikaterine had insisted on going to bed early and shooing Nanny out of the apartment.

Richard could have looked more outraged if he could, but he had a strong preference for staying alive at the moment if the blade at his throat was any indication. Eva scolded Vergil, telling him that it wasn’t necessarily polite to go around pointing swords at people no matter how upset they were. Sam calmly pulled out a backup flask from their jacket.

Vergil slitted his eyes at his mother and did as he was told, returning Yamato to the sheath. He gently roused the woman in his arms with a gentle whisper in her ear. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, a bit confused at being in the waiting room.

“What the fuuu…” She glanced back and forth then finally at her idiot boyfriend’s face. “Oh, so now you acknowledge me?”

“Are you kidding me? You’re always on my mind. You shouldn’t even have this disease in the first place… unless.” Vergil sighed. “You and your self-esteem problem. I’ve watched you distance yourself from everyone, every day. That’s why I sent you text messages to check on you the nights I couldn’t be with you.”

“Every night…” Nanny mumbled. “I’m the worst minder.”

“But the deal… I don’t have a future.” She spoke carefully, but not before shooting an angry glare at her uncle.

“Hmph. Your fiance took matters in his hands after the birthday call.” Richard shuffled behind Sam for protection, not wanting the sword back at his throat. Sam briefly considered moving to the other side of the room.

“My what.” She froze for a moment. The gears started spinning in her head as her body began getting uncomfortably warm. There was a faint outline of a barely blooming carnination wrapping around her heart, roots spiking into her lungs.

With the revelation that she was stuck in a pit of despair of her own making because she believed that she was resigned to suffer a life of a beautiful doll. Her rage burned away every inch of the roots hooked into her being. How dare she fell for such an easy trap of despair. No more.

The flower burst into flames as she fell out of Vergil’s arms, shuddering. Finally, she threw up the burnt remains of the cursed bloom. He helped her up as she wiped at her mouth. Finally, no more blood. Aikaterine winced, realizing that her body was still aching from the after effects.

“Excuse me, I’ll be borrowing your fiancee for tests.” Sam told Vergil after he grabbed Aikaterine and promptly escorted her out of the room.

“What the hell just happened?” Mary said.

“I think, the best way to put it.. her lack of self-esteem caused the disease.” Eva said. “She’s pretty strong for someone with such raw power.”

“And that’s why I locked her up for that nonsense!” Richard shouted but immediately shut up due to death glares from one annoyed fiance.

After a battery of tests with x-rays which yes, confirmed the disease’s absence. There was finally a sonogram which gave a definite answer to a previous test they were unable to perform previously. Nothing. Sam only mumbled something about the disease giving off confusing chemistry mimicking hormones. 

Few days later, Aikaterine was resting comfortably in her bedroom back in Red Grave, under Sam’s orders as both a researcher and a teacher. She felt guilty for having caused so much trouble for everyone, and said as much. There was an annoyed grunt by her side.

“Nonsense.” Vergil answered her, reading a book. “I let my pride get in the way and that nearly cost me you.”

“Why is that?” She stretched out her arms. “I know you had tests to study for…”

“Despite having money, I wanted to be able to purchase you a ring.” He hid his face in the book. “It is my greatest shame that it took me some considerable time and multiple jobs to find you the perfect ring. Otherwise, this mess would have never happened.”

“Oh? You got me a ring? You never did get to propose to me properly.”

“Time is as good as any. Be my wife?”

He popped the box open, revealing a sapphire ring. Aikaterine peered at the ring, but not before smirking at him. “And you promise to tolerate my existence?”

“I should have not said that.” He replied with a scowl, slightly pink.

“Silly. I’ll marry you, of course. Now, I do have to figure out what I’m going to do with my life now that I’m free. Can’t believe you went all the way to Fortuna for me.”

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. You just have to remember that.” He took the ring out of the box, sliding it on her finger. He brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed his lips on her knuckles. “And if you forget, I’ll remind you.”

“Now, help me catch up with homework? I’d still like to graduate with the class.. If possible!”

“As long as you don’t strain yourself in the process. As you once reminded me to be mindful of my body’s limits, you need to do the same for yourself.” Vergil planted a kiss on her forehead. Aikaterine pouted, grabbing him by his shirt, demanding that he kiss her on the lips properly. “If I do that, we wouldn’t stop and you wouldn’t get that assignment done.”

“I don’t mind a brief distraction.”

“Ah, but we haven’t begun yet.”

\--

She was proud to say that she aced all her tests in spite of her recovery time. However, she couldn’t say the same for college applications, having missed the deadlines owing to her depression. Didn’t mean that she couldn’t try again next time now that she had all the freedom in the world. The year off at least would give her some time to consider her options and what she wanted for a career if she should ever choose one.

“It’s good to see that you’re up and about!” Mary exclaimed. “I’m like, super nervous about this. You?”

“Surprised. Happy. Relieved. Too many words to describe what I’m feeling.” Aikaterine laughed back. “I have you guys to thank for helping me with catching up.”

“Of course, it did help that Sam went easy on the assignments. Probably the most relaxed teacher compared to everyone else. I don’t think I’ve seen them drink from their flask since then.”

“That’s amazing, Sam held out that long?”

The women were wearing their graduation robes over their clothing, having already taken their seats. It was considerably intimidating to see so many people in the audience. Of course, she knew that Nanny was seated with the Sparda family and it warmed her heart. The auditorium was awfully noisy what with the usual gossip going around.

“Did you see the cheese wheel with the small graduation cap on their head?!” “I did! So cute!”

“I wonder what made our teacher stop drinking.” “That can’t be right!” “The flask hasn’t been seen for a month!” “Holy shit.”

“...I was hoping for that super baby rumor to be true.” “That one is too absurd.” “What about that blood and flowers in the hallway?” “This isn’t even the right time of the year for a horror story!”

“I’ll miss the silly gossip.” Mary sighed. “They say such wildest things.”

“You do have to admit that Brie looks cute with her cap.”

The proud demon cheese wheel skittered past with her tiny graduation cap to the stage and took her place under Sam’s chair. The school staff simply refused to comment on the demon cheese wheel’s existence as they wanted to maintain the illusion that there wasn’t such a thing. The principal cleared their throat and took to the podium to announce the graduating class and handing out of diplomas.

It went without saying that Sam’s class had the most interesting poses with their teacher for diploma pictures. Sometimes Brie tried to photobomb with limited success. There was a loud “YEEHAW” which shouldn’t have been unexpected from one Dante. Finally, the valedictorians took the stage to give the farewell speech.

“As your former school president, I can only say that aspire to live well, and do well.”

“As your former school vice president. Never be afraid of your feelings. Seize the day!”

The caps went flying into the air with another yee-haw from Dante before unexpectedly tackled by Mary and smooched. “Holy crap.”

“You’ve wasted time! Be my boyfriend?”

“Why the hell not?”

“About bloody time, Dante.” Vergil returned with Aikaterine’s hand on his arm. “You still haven’t learned the meaning of being prompt.”

“Well… uh…” The younger twin stammered.

“What did I say? Be honest with your feelings!” Aikaterine gently scolded. “We wouldn’t want you to suddenly end up with the flower disease.”

Dante was speechless for a moment and rubbed his face. They had him there as he glanced over to Mary, sheepishly apologizing for his lack of inaction. She only grinned back and told him that someone had to take charge for once and it might as well be her. He just shook his head.

“So, what do you guys have planned?” Aikaterine posed the question. “I mean, I have that whole year to rest up and try college applications.”

“I dunno, I was thinking about opening a demon slaying business. Something like pest control management.” Dante snorted. “Or failing that, becoming a pole dancer named Tony Redgrave.”

“That is the worst alias I’ve ever heard.” Vergil responded.

“Hey, I’m not the one running around with ridiculous names and disguises. V? Gilver? Why even try?”

“You--”

“Think we should let them fight it out?” Mary glanced at Aikaterine. “Ditch them and get pizza to celebrate?”

“That sounds good to me.”

“Hey, hey! I heard pizza! You’re not leaving without us!” Dante started chasing after the ladies who had started leaving the building with Vergil not too far behind.

The future did look pretty bright after all, Aikaterine grinned to herself as she took a good look at her diploma which bore her new name. Goodbye, Aikaterine! Carina was now fully in charge of her new life.


End file.
